hey all.. been working on this for about a week and a half now.. trying to polish it up for the mass portfolio export to studios.. worked really hard on this.. hope yall dig, and if you have any more suggestions to kick it up a notch even further, please let me know.. thank u









in my maps page.. it is already duly noted that i should paint the black areas the neutral object color.. like blue.. i have edge padding.. but i know i should correct that, so that studios dont think i dont know what mip mapping is.. but i've been working on it several hours today.. and now just catching it.. i'm pretty tired, i guess.. will update when i have rested up

oh yes.. and it's based off this concept i did a while back

i remember this old model... his eyes aren't very clean, fix em up!

Maybe you can remake the topology within the eye are, like industry standard I guess..

I'm kind of disturbed at how he looks so human.

It's kind of like some furry art or something...what happened to my cute but rad hedgehog sonic :[

I have to say, it is a tad bit creepy hehe. I think its the muscles that take away the over all cuteness. The chest and arms could use some more work though. Very flat.

Why does everyone have the urge to ruin Sonic? I'm sure a lot of effort was put into this, but from the very beginning it suffers from a lack of style for a recognizable character.

This actually scares me... A lot... And that face on his chest is just... Wut...

Im a bit sad to say in the least, I had saw this concept a while back in hopes you were gonna post progress as you went along......

The overall design based from your concepts to final presentation lacks in all regards

a few things that would have helped


That fur you kinda etched in kept it flat, or kept a shader on it to make it transmit more smoother

The posture of your character is so extremely ridged , even though humanoid has no character to it , just look like a plank standing straight

his face is creepy but its due to afew reasons, mainly on the front view of your character his eyes have were shadowing where the eyeballs themself are just floating in nothing

from the side view (based on your drawings) the skull was WAY more defined were as your 3d it again lacks.

shoe design I like no real complaints there

Glove design reminds me of kingdom hearts Im not a fan of the flesh fingers sticking out, but I suppose it could grow on me if the gloves were designed a bit more with details

having the muscles on this guy is fine but heres the thing

sonic is fast

he runs fast

fastest thing alive

Ever watch the saturday morning show you should know that just by the theme song


so tell me why is his ABS SO DEFINED but his legs are just semi defined?


Does sonic run Stomach first into shit?

NO

he RUNS with his legs , he KICKS and spins with his back


Things that would have given it more character legs being more defined and OBVIOUSLY bigger (if your going for that kinda more detailed/ realistic vibe of sonic)

ok lets now think again other notable things with sonic

he attack how?

Quills on his back in a ball right?


Key word there "Back"

His back muscles / back frame would obviously would be wider wouldnt they?

Again more things Im trying to point out to hopefully help you evolve this character more

Im a fan of sonic/megaman/old school games

So I love to see redesigns or tribute models

I really think you should take this model back to concept really define your concept and start in your base mesh again and sculpt nicely

look into shaders that can render fur nicely (Example sonic unleashed had a type of fur shader for night werhog sonic)

Other shades similar to this were ones used for viva pinata

There tons to improve on , please take all my critics/ personal opinions with a grain of salt! But take grains of that salt to make your dish more favorable

Hate to be mean but : A muscley midget dressed up in a shoddy sonic suit with stickers for eyes? : P
That said. The technical aspect is nicelt done in my opinion.

Not a big fan of the texturing sir. It looks like a drawing of fur instead of actual fur.

I just don't like the idea of the human like body parts being so anatomically defined. I feel like he should have a dick too.

Originally Posted by Pope Adam

Not a big fan of the texturing sir. It looks like a drawing of fur instead of actual fur.

I just don't like the idea of the human like body parts being so anatomically defined. I feel like he should have a dick too.

Funny you should say that, because I totally thought his tail and thumb were c*cks.

Seriously though, the thing buggin' me most is the chin, humanizes him a little too much. Work on the jaw area a bit and i think he'll look a lot better. Interesting take on a realistic sonic but i can't help but think he'd look better without so much fur detail and a little more in his cartoony roots.

I like the shoes. The rest...not so much unfortunately. Its pulled off sorta nice, its just a creepy design...

Chaos, it hasn't even been 12 hours so stfu... some people have shit they have to do during the day. Stop trolling and go work on your own shit cause your attitude certainly isn't going to be what gets you into the industry.

I definitely thought the concept and sculpt were stronger than the final presentation. I miss the original hexagonal mesh material the red parts were for sure as well. The three biggest weaknesses imo are probably the eyes, fur material and the Leno chin. Sonic's head has always been so round that the lack of swoop straight from the mouth to the neck totally makes him seem like a different character.

The muscles aside ( cause I think it could somehow work with a little more pinching towards the elbows ), it'd be great if you spent some time silhouetting the original sonic to see what features really characterize him to be the figure he is.

the problem i am having is the hair texture. I think if you broke up the spikes a little maybe using an alpha or something to look more like liberty spikes
Or maybe just smooth down the hair texture in the normal so it is a little less BAM in your face!!!

I like the shoes.
A couple things that could be improved:

How the fur fades into the skin, make it more like the concept, it has more variation and visual interest than the model. The transition is too abrupt right now, like he's wearing sleeveless fur overalls.

Texture is lacking variation.
Maybe have the ends of the hair spikes a lighter color or something to give more interest to them.
It needs something on the head to pull focus to it, right now my eyes are getting drawn to the gloves or shoes.

I think the fur is the biggest issue. You have only sculpted individual hairs and to make it not looking flat, you have it really sharp and high contrast. But that will only make the texture noisy. Especially when the model is moving.

Try sculpt clusters of hair instead. It will make the fur look more realistic, detailed and more interesting. You can even get more personality with the character depending how you do all the curls etc.

Watch this video:

You Tube

ok wow.. lots of strong reviews.. so here's the deal.. the creepiness factor is not what i'm going for... nor for a cuteness... and apologies for shocking people w/ this bold new take.. i'm not going for anything, anybody has seen before .. i'm going for more of an intense, mean, and intimidating Sonic, that does stick close to the concept.. perhaps i could play around more with different postures, proportions.. and actually pose him so that he looks less ridged.. because i can see it right now at the elbows..

I see nothing wrong w/ a strong, fast Sonic.. yes as a toon, he's got noodle limbs in the other games and Saturday morning cartoons.. and he's fast.. but he runs.. and runs a lot.. any runner who does it for a long period of time, whether animal or humanoid, is going to have lean muscle.. take The Flash, for instance.. and i think it gives him a very strong silhouette..

there are lots of issues w/ the fur, I know.. I guess i went a little buck nutty in zbrush, sculpting it all in.. and at the time it looked pretty cool.. but i dont think it's workin for me anymore either.. it looks chiseled in.. there's a lot of sharp contrast and deep shadows between the locks.. i actually woke up this morning thinking about how i could get it to work very similarly to Shadow of the Colossus-- the monster's grassy looking fur.. something like that might kick it up a notch.. and sell it better

granted-- he's a hedgehog, and if he were real, his quills would be ridged.. (after thought)

the eyes.. the eyes were giving me issues.. i had initially sculpted them in Zbrush, as u can see.. but then i realized that they would not work for the model.. so i painted them out of the normals, and modeled eyes.. they were a quick fix.. and probably not the best solution.. but i still read an intense facial expression from him nonetheless.. perhaps its the angle of the screen shot.. i donno.. in the comics, and the cartoon.. the eye's are separate from the face.. they glide along the white of his eyes.. like you wonder how the muscles of his eyes actually work, if they worked for real

anyways.. great comments.. i'll take most of them into consideration.. especially the fur.. hehe.. i think this is the most comments i've ever gotten on a piece.. so i hope i've left an impression.. thanks agian

*cue Sonic theme music*

There's nothing more cool than being hugged by someone you like.
But if someone tries to touch you in a place or in a way that makes you feel uncomfortable, that's NO GOOD.
It's your body, no one has the right to touch you if you don't want them to.
So what do you do?
First, you say NO!
Then, you get OUTTA THERE!

*cue Sonic theme music*

i lol d00kie.. that made me lol

Get fur on him. He looks last gen/made out of shampoo-bottle-plastic. Today's date is July 30th 2009, not April 11th 2003. Make him look current. You've a lot of competition out there.

Get rid of that nasty-ass T-pose. This isn't school, we're not your teachers. Show us Sonic as we'd see Sonic: Moving, jumping, collecting rings and overall being a cocky hedgehog. The t-pose, while possibly good for you to use while modeling, doesn't help your case when trying to SELL us on who he is. Hell, the classic Sonic pose of his hands on his hips while he taps his foot in anticipation would rock.

The human hands are neat, but I'd completely cover them in gloves. Seeing finger nails reaaaaally fucks with the brain. Is this a cartoon character you've made or some "stylized" creepy Furry about to Yiff some ready-and-waiting Amy?

i think this is one of those projects that just isnt quite right, enough to make some people dislike it but i think it has alot of potential its just slightly eschewed at the moment.

for me the colour of the fur is whats putting me off and also making it look last gen.

i would imagine him as a bit of a greaser his blue hair greased back into those spikes, slight air of 50s speed demon possibly wears a studded jacket and deffinatly likes the idea of being james dean

anyway if you could pull off a nice specular sheen on the fur and change the colours to suit a bit better i think your on to a winer weiner errrrr winner


little idea of where the colour should be, though im on my macbook and paintings an arse pretend the fur has that greasy plastic look ;-)

@Adam lol yiff

I think shep nailed the colour with his edit, already screams sonic a lot more to me.

It is a bit creepy to look at lol, especially the hands but I think if you fixed up the fur it would look much better. As you said yourself, Shadow of the Colossus is definitely a game to look at even though its last gen they did fur really well. His face is odd, it's not quite in any form of expression so adding something there would help too.

hey if it's any consolation.. i have object space normals turned on, on this model right now.. i could turn it off.. the normals get projected a bit better.. i just liked the look of the model w/ the object space norms turned on... i'll throw up a comparison.. and if some one would explain to me the difference, or what it does in a running game, or the reason they have it in an engine.. that would be superb.. thanks